A significant part of the prehistory of Washington Township is the Locus 7 Site, located north of Fayette City, where it is believed that members of the Monongahela tribe may have lived as far back as AD 600.

Cook was at that time engaged in reviewing a body of militia nearby and knew nothing of the arrival of his distinguished guest.

Word of the arrival was whispered to the men before it reached the colonel, and when he observing the commotion learned what was in the wind, he relaxed all discipline and set off unceremoniously for the house.

The militiamen followed at the double-quick and hurrahing enthusiastically for General Washington brought him to the porch and evoked from him in reply a good natured and fatherly speech which the soldiers cheered to the echo.

Washington kept an account of the journey that provides details of where he stopped each day, who he met with and what they talked about, in addition to specifically where he went, what he saw, and did.

Cook and Washington may have known each other however they shared very different viewpoints about the Virginia-Pennsylvania rivalry and counter claims over whether the region belonged to Virginia or Pennsylvania, and would have been rivals in the land acquisition and speculation business.

ii, p. 230); was a member of the State Constitutional Convention that convened September 28, 1776; and was the first commissioner of exchange and appointed sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland County, March 21, 1777.

On January 5, 1782, he was appointed lieutenant of Westmoreland County to succeed Col. Archibald Lochry, who had been captured and killed while on an Indian expedition.

Having taken this bold and honorable course, he quietly awaited the result which was simply that nothing was found against him and he was not molested in person but some cavalrymen belonging to the army that came out to quell the insurrection visited his home and did considerable damage, nearly demolishing his distillery, knocking in the heads of liquor casks and spilling a vast amount of whiskey.

[5] The Col. Edward Cook House and the Locus 7 Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.